The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
